Dez Bryant 'a kid that really needs guidance'

Oklahoma State's Pro Day is today and Dez Bryant is not participating, according to published reports.

Apparently Bryant is still not ready to run for the scouts after he skipped the workout portion of the Indianapolis Combine last month. Bryant cited a lingering hamstring problem at the Combine and apparently it is still not 100 percent. Remember also that Bryant has not played football since September of 2009 because he was suspended by the NCAA for lying to them.

Bryant's "handlers" are telling people the wide receiver will run at a private Pro Day later this month in his hometowm of Lufkin, Tex.

And I can hear the hand-wringing already from the skeptics: Oh my God, he's not working out again! He will surely be a bust!

Look, the same folks worried that Bryant will be a bust because he didn't work out at the Combine or at his Pro Day have zero criticism of the fact Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford didn't work out at the Combine and skipped Oklahoma's Pro Day on Tuesday.

Bradford will work out for team later this month and no one is ripping him about it, so spare me the drama.

But ...

There are a myriad other reasons to be seriously concerned about Bryant as a draft pick, and more specifically as a possible No. 12 pick in the first round to the Miami Dolphins.

And teams are definitely weighing those concerns as this report in the National Football Post shows. There are teams wondering about Bryant to the point that I spoke to one scout last week that wondered aloud if Bryant might not eventually be taken off the board of some teams, although not his own.

"One of the things I know we've done already is go beyond the field on this kid," the scout told me. "If you don't do that with him, you have no idea what you're getting and how to manage it. He's a kid that had trouble with his grades. He struggled to get eligible. But if you dig you find out it is not because he's stupid but partly because he lived in like three different homes growing up. He was sleeping on the floor some nights. He wasn't exactly nurtured, know what I mean? I can see how grades can suffer."

Anyone that does digging on Bryant will find out his mother had three children by the time she was 18 years old. At the age of 23, she had to give her kids up because she was busted for selling crack cocaine. She served 18 months.

Bryant's father?

No sign of him.

"He's a kid that really needs guidance," the scout told me. "Whatever team takes him is getting a player that has all the tools on the field. But whatever team takes him will have to do a lot of work to make sure he get on the field.

"He would be a good fit for a team that has a strong veteran receiver already on the roster that can take him under his wing. Frankly, it might also be smart to hire somebody to make sure he gets to practice and meetings on time. You might need someone to help him with the playbook. You'll have to watch him early on to teach him how to become a professional. He's nowhere near ready to be a professional right now. He might get there and there might be bumps along with the way. But if you're asking right now, he's not ready to be trusted off the bat in my opinion."

That will not deter one team. Someone will invest a pick on Dez Bryant. His physical skills and potential are vast. Are the Miami Dolphins that team?

At No. 12?

[Update 2:15 p.m.: Information from Alabama's Pro Day coming in: NT Terrence Cody weighed in at 348-349 depending on whom you believe and did 32 reps of 225 pounds. Linebacker Rolando McClain ran a 4.74 time on some stopwatches in the 40-yard dash.]